In 1934–35 he appeared in a number of productions for Doris Fitton at the Savoy Theatre, some with a young Sumner Locke Elliott. He also worked as a sideshow spruiker at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, in vaudeville with Joe Cody and as a foil to American comedian Bert le Blanc.[13] At age 19 Finch toured Australia with George Sorlie's travelling troupe.
We all say we're going to quit occasionally. I'd like to have been more adventurous in my career. But it's a fascinating and not ignoble profession. No one lives more lives than the actor. Movie making is like geometry and I hated maths. But this kind of jigsaw I relish. When I played Lord Nelson I worked the poop deck in his uniform. I got extraordinary shivers. Sometimes I felt like I was staring at my own coffin. I touched that character. There lies the madness. You can't fake it.[32]
“Peter and the team offer professionally run, competitive golf at the best courses in the UK. It has been a great way for me to play the top venues under tournament pressure whilst meeting people I now class as friends. A tight ship is run too, with no questionable handicaps and scores, which are well within reason, picking up prizes is a refreshing change. Since my involvement from 2014, you can see the tour growing naturally year on year and given the schedule who can see it stopping. Every event is top class – and glad to be apart of it.”
He was soon cast in his first British movie, playing a murderous actor in Train of Events (1949). Critic C. A. Lejeune praised his work in the London Observer commenting that he "adds good cheekbones to a quick intelligence and is likely to become a cult, I fear."[19] The Scotsman said "he should be regarded as one of the most hopeful recruits to the British screen."[20]
In 1980, American author Elaine Dundy published a biography of Finch titled Finch, Bloody Finch: A Biography of Peter Finch. That year, his second wife, Yolande Finch, also published a posthumous account of their life together, Finchy: My Life with Peter Finch. Another biography had previously been published by his friend and colleague Trader Faulkner, in 1979.
Finch returned to Australia to make The Shiralee (1957), one of his favourite parts, and the tenth most popular movie at the British box office that year. He followed it with another Australian story, the bushranger tale Robbery Under Arms (1957), which did less well. However exhibitors still voted Finch the third most popular British star of 1957, and the fifth most popular overall, regardless of nationality.[28]

Finch co-wrote and directed an award-winning short film, The Day (1960) and announced plans to direct a feature but it did not eventuate. He won his third BAFTA for Best Actor for No Love for Johnnie (1961), although like Oscar Wilde, the film lost money. He was originally chosen to play Julius Caesar in Cleopatra (1963) and filmed scenes in London, but when the film was postponed he withdrew; the role was recast with Rex Harrison.

“Peter and the team offer professionally run, competitive golf at the best courses in the UK. It has been a great way for me to play the top venues under tournament pressure whilst meeting people I now class as friends. A tight ship is run too, with no questionable handicaps and scores, which are well within reason, picking up prizes is a refreshing change. Since my involvement from 2014, you can see the tour growing naturally year on year and given the schedule who can see it stopping. Every event is top class – and glad to be apart of it.”